Umbrellas are widely used to provide protection from the sun or the elements. Since umbrellas are nearly invariably used outside, it is desirable that the umbrella mounts be stable in at least light winds and breezes. Many bases have been designed to provide such stability and most commonly such bases are very heavy and the weight of the base stabilizes the umbrella mounted therein, as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,354,031. While heavy bases are useful for mounting stationery umbrellas, it is also desirable that umbrellas be movable from one location to another. One technique to provide such mobility has been to equip a heavy mounting base with wheels as in U.S. Pat. No. 7,641,175. While equipping the base with wheels provides the ability to move the base across a generally planar surface, it is still not practical to routinely lift and transport a heavy base from place to place.
Because it is often desirable to utilize an umbrella for shade in connection with a vehicle, another alternative that has been proposed is to provide a vehicle anchored mount for an umbrella as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,911,399. While such a mounting system is useful in connection with the vehicle, it does not provide a satisfactory solution in other locations. Similarly, some clamping arrangements have been devised that are suitable for mounting an umbrella to a properly positioned structure as in U.S. Pat. No. 7,040,593 or which include a clamping element as in the case of U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,401,736 and 5,836,327. Again, these clamps are only suitable for attachment to base structures of particular positions, sizes, or shapes. Two other alternatives that have been utilized are a very large base as in U.S. Pat. No. 7,264,218 or the permanent attachment of a mounting base as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,680,517 and U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2002/0053631. Permanent mounting of the umbrella base can provide excellent stability but is not suitable for mobility.
Several alternative techniques for utilizing umbrellas in connection with vehicles have been proposed, including trailer hitch attachments such as are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,818,128 and 8,123,190 or particularly designed mounting structures that are fixed to the vehicle as in U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2010/0096876 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,529,368. These attachments are only suitable for use on a particular vehicle and do not provide the ability to releasably attach the umbrella to a variety of different base structures. An improved umbrella mount is still needed can be mounted to a wide variety of base structures, while providing variable umbrella positioning and being simple and inexpensive to make and use.